Rabbi Sol Solomon’s Rabbinical Reflection #210 (6/20/2026): NEW YORK KNICKS
Subject: Rabbi Sol reflects on the Knicks’ championship season.
This Rabbinical Reflection first aired June 20, 2026 on the “Dave’s Gone By” video podcast program hosted by Dave Lefkowitz.
Rabbi Sol’s Rabbinical Reflections air on the long-running Dave’s Gone By program (davesgoneby.com) and are also archived on the Rebbe’s blog, Shalomdammit.com.
Rabbi Sol is also the creator of the stage shows, “Shalom Dammit! An Evening with Rabbi Sol Solomon” and “Hate Speech…With Love: Another Evening with Rabbi Sol Solomon.”
RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #210 (6/20/2026): New York Knicks
(c)2026 David Lefkowitz. airs June 20, 2026 on Dave’s Gone By.
Shalom, Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon, with a Rabbinical Reflection for late June 2026.
When the Jews exodused from Egypt, they spent 40 years wandering the desert. In fact, by the time they got to Israel, they were dead, literally; only the next generation made it to the Holyland. Well, 40 years plus 13 is 53 years. That’s how long New Yorkers have waited for a basketball squad to lead us out of exile into the NBA promised land.
In 1973, nice Jewish coach Red Holzman led the New York Knicks to a 700 record and a championship win over the L.A. Lakers. `Twas the season of Phil Jackson, Dave DeBusschere, Walt Frazier, Earl “The Pearl” Monroe, and Bill “The Senator” Bradley. Who knew then it would take five decades of often lousy B-ball to be-good?
But it happened this week! Kicking away the San Antonio Spurs in only five games, the Knicks, led by superstar Jalen Brunson, went the distance and gave New Yorkers a legitimate reason to set fires, overturn cars, and cavort like happy lunatics instead of oppressed ones.
After years traipsing through a wilderness of bad teams, selfish players, and dumb drafts, the Knickerbockers finally knicked their bockers. And let me tell you — it wasn’t always easy to cheer them on. Remember those two knucklehead Knicks who were interviewed by the New York Times, and when bringing up the bible, took the opportunity to bash Jews and call us Christ killers? That was 25 years ago, but let’s face it, with celebrities and athletes today, it could’ve been last week! And just in terms of incompetence, twice in the last decade, the Knicks went 17 and 65. Those happen to be my two favorite ages of a woman, but be that as it may… The Knicks were so bad, they made the New York Jets look – no, nothing can make the Jets look good, but it was easy to think the Knicks were equally sunk.
So there’s your object lesson of the day! No matter how hopeless, no matter how long the trail of failure, no matter how many fickle fingers of fault get pointed – there’s a way out of the desert if you work hard, change your attitude, get a little lucky, and make your own luck. Easy, right? No, if it was easy I’d be at Universal Studios directing Adam Sandler movies in Yiddish. But it is possible.
We celebrate the triumph of the New York Knicks — or any team — because they prove that collaboration, skill, and endurance can lead to glory. Alas, I couldn’t go to the Knicks’ victory parade on Thursday because of a bursitis issue. But I was there in spirit. (Interesting that Mayor Mamdani was there in the flesh and attended two playoff games – yet somehow had no time in his calendar for the Israel Day Parade. Priorities.)
But this moment is not for politics or nitpicking. It’s for the Knicks finally clicking and rewarding the true fans who kept sticking.
This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, Temple Sons of Bitches, in Great Neck, New York. Slam dunk!
click above for episode #1036 click above to listen (audio only)
Here is episode #1036, “Fox & Friends,” of the Dave’s Gone By podcast, which aired live on facebook, Saturday morning, June 13, 2026.
Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with filmmaker Joe Fox; Greeley Times; StoryTime “Self-Discipline in 10 Days”; Bunion Watch, Dave’s song: “French People.”
Guests: filmmaker Joe Fox; spiritual leader Rabbi Sol Solomon
00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce: Tony recap, RIP Cop Log, Spotify victory, roundabout shooting 01:05:00 GREELEY TIMES 01:27:00 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews Joe Fox 02:03:30 STORYTIME: Theodore Bryant’s “Self-Discipline in 10 Days” 02:27:00 Friends of the Daverhood 02:36:30 COLORADO LIMERICK OF THE DAMNED: Conger’s Camp 02:45:00 BUNION WATCH 02:46:30 DAVE GOES OUT
June 13, 2026 Playlist: “French People” (02:22:00; Dave)
click above to watchclick above to listen (audio only)
Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with filmmaker JOE FOX
Topics include: Don’t Cry for Me My Yeshiva, Rwanda, Orthodox Judaism, homosexuality, L.A. riots
Segment airs June 13, 2026 as part of episode #1036 of the “Dave’s Gone By” radio/video podcast program hosted by Dave Lefkowitz.
Please Note: Segments extracted from “Dave’s Gone By” may have music and other elements removed for timing and media re-posting considerations. For the full interview with all elements, please visit the audio of the complete original broadcast.
All content (c)2026 TotalTheater Productions.
More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com
click above to watch episode #1035 click above to listen (audio only)
Here is episode #1035, “The 21st Annual TotalTheater Broadway Special,” of the Dave’s Gone By podcast, which aired live on facebook, Saturday morning, June 6, 2026.
Featuring: Special Broadway edition! Featuring: Host Dave Lefkowitz chats with Tony-nominated orchestrator Brian Usifer, with Wisconsin critic Anne Siegel about the Regional Theater Tony Award, and with critics and journalists about the 2025-26 New York theater season. Plus: Broadway trivia and Rabbi Sol Solomon’s Rabbinical Reflection on the Tony nominations.
Guests: orchestrator Brian Usifer; theater critics Leslie (Hoban) Blake, Joe Dziemianowicz, David Finkle, Thom Geier, Charles Gross, Eva Heinemann, Brian Scott Lipton, Jonathan Mandell, Carey Purcell, David Sheward, Raven Snook, Martha Wade Steketee, Zachary Stewart, Jeffrey Sweet, Robert Viagas; spiritual leader Rabbi Sol Solomon
00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce 00:10:00 BROADWAY FACTS & FIGURES 00:14:30 GUEST: Jonathan Mandell 00:28:30 GUEST: Zachary Stewart 00:44:30 GUEST: Brian Scott Lipton 00:59:00 GUEST: David Finkle 01:15:00 RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #209: Tony Awards 2026 01:23:00 Giveaway 01:26:00 OTHER AWARDS pt. 1 01:29:00 BROADWAY TRIVIA w/ David Sheward, Jeffrey Sweet, Robert Viagas 02:16:00 GUEST: Raven Snook 02:28:00 GUEST: Carey Purcell 02:41:00 OTHER AWARDS pt. 2 02:43:00 GUEST: Brian Usifer 03:02:00 GUEST: Leslie (Hoban) Blake 03:17:00 GUEST: Charles Gross 03:29:00 Passings from the Daverhood 03:33:00 GUEST: Eva Heinemann 03:42:30 GUEST: Joe Dziemianowicz 03:54:00 GUEST: Martha Wade Steketee 04:08:00 GUEST: Anne Siegel 04:18:30 GUEST: Thom Geier 04:28:00 DAVE GOES OUT
June 6, 2026 Playlist: “I Want to Be Happy” (00:00:01; Vincent Lopez); Manhattan (04:36:00; Paul Whiteman)
Dave’s Gone By Skit (5/30/2026): STORYTIME – Rabbi Sol Solomon shares an A.I. rap and reads “Miriam and her Dancing Shoes”
For this week’s StoryTime segment on Dave’s Gone By, Rabbi Sol Solomon reads a Jewish rap concocted for him by Artificial Intelligence and then reads Sandy Eisenberg Sasso’s “Miriam and her Dancing Shoes”
This segment aired April 25, 2026 as part of episode #1029 of the “Dave’s Gone By” video podcast program hosted by Dave Lefkowitz. Full episodes also available on youtube, Facebook (davesgoneby), and on DavesGoneBy.com.
All content (c)2026 TotalTheater Productions.
More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com
click above for episode #1o34click above to listen (audio only)
Here is episode #1034, “Downs Syndrome,” of the Dave’s Gone By podcast, which aired live on facebook, Saturday morning, May 30, 2026.
Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with dramatist and director William Missouri Downs, raps a Jewish A.I. number, and reads “Miriam and the Dancing Shoes”; Greeley Times; Colorado Limerick of the Damned (Concrete).
Guests: playwright William Missouri Downs; spiritual leader Rabbi Sol Solomon
00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce: robins nest, wave it around 00:38:30 BUNION WATCH 00:43:30 GREELEY TIMES 01:18:30 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews William Missouri Downs 02:03:00 STORYTIME w/ Rabbi Sol Solomon: A.I. rap and Sandy Eisenberg Sasso’s “Miriam and her Dancing Shoes” 02:36:00 Friends of the Daverhood 02:45:00 COLORADO LIMERICK OF THE DAMNED: Concrete, CO 02:48:30 DAVE GOES OUT
click above to watch the interviewclick above to listen (audio only)
Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with singer JENNA ESPOSITO
Topics include: Italian song, San Gennaro, cabaret, Marilyn Maye, Connie Francis
Segment airs May 23, 2026 as part of episode #1033 of the “Dave’s Gone By” radio/video podcast program hosted by Dave Lefkowitz.
Please Note: Segments extracted from “Dave’s Gone By” may have music and other elements removed for timing and media re-posting considerations. For the full interview with all elements, please visit the audio of the complete original broadcast.
All content (c)2026 TotalTheater Productions.
More information on Dave’s Gone By: http://www.davesgoneby.com
Rabbi Sol Solomon’s Rabbinical Reflection #208 (5/23/2026): MOSQUE ATTACK
This Rabbinical Reflection first aired May 23, 2026 on the Dave’s Gone By video podcast.
Rabbi Sol’s Rabbinical Reflections air on the long-running Dave’s Gone By program (davesgoneby.com) and are also archived on the Rebbe’s blog, Shalomdammit.com.
Rabbi Sol is also the creator of the stage shows, “Shalom Dammit! An Evening with Rabbi Sol Solomon” and “Hate Speech…With Love: Another Evening with Rabbi Sol Solomon.”
TRANSCRIPT: Shalom, Dammit! This is Rabbi Sol Solomon, with a Rabbinical Reflection for late May 2026.
So often in these mini-sermons, I am mourning and expressing rage at attacks on Israel, synagogues, and the Jewish community. It came as almost a shock this week when a mosque, the Islamic Center of San Diego, became the target of terror. Three innocent people, including a security guard, were murdered by a couple of teenagers, whose stockpile of weapons included 30 guns and a crossbow. This is a horrible story, yet another in a long line of gun-crazy crazies ruining life for the rest of us. Condolences to the survivors of the dead, and compassion for the Moslem community enduring an unquestionable hate crime.
However, that said, there’s also room for gratitude. (And yes, here comes the politically incorrect part). As Jews, we should be grateful that the shooters were named Clark and Vazquez, and not Cohen and Vogel. All we needed now was another excuse for the watermelon crowd to bash us.
Speaking of the Intifada, I hate to say it (actually, I don’t hate to say it; I’m just gonna say it), but this is the Muslims getting a taste of their own medicine. For 78 years, Jews have lived with both the threat, and the realization, of terror violence. Year after year of bombings, blastings, stabbings, hijackings, four all-out wars, and then the atrocities of October 7th, 2023. Jews are forever the targets of blind hatred and slaughter – all too often at the hands of Arabs.
I am not saying, “Aha! This time we get one back!” That is reductive and ugly, even for me. Then I’d be like the Luigiites. They celebrate a psycho because the healthcare guy he shot was responsible for much more suffering and death than Luigi’s single killing. Still, two wrongs don’t…dot dot dot.
But perhaps this awful tragedy at the San Diego mosque will be a reminder that no matter how you despise someone else, terrorism is the wrong response. For example, just because it feels right to assassinate the guy who replaced supermarket cashiers with automated kiosks doesn’t mean it is right. Maybe.
And let’s not forget, those teenage losers in California didn’t just hate Muslims. These white supremacists abhorred schvartes, faigeles, women – because they couldn’t get laid – Republicans and Democrats. Oh, and they wrote a manifesto blaming Jews for everything. Well, isn’t that a kumbaya moment? Muslims, white supremacists, leftist progressives, and writers for the New York Times all standing together against the Hebrews. Hey, free country. Loathe us all you want. But if you go the next step, once in a great while, it’ll be your brains on the sidewalk. You have been warned.
This has been a Rabbinical Reflection from Rabbi Sol Solomon, Temple Sons of Bitches, in Great Neck, New York.
click above to watch episode #1032click above to listen (audio only)
Here is episode #1032, “Pom de Terre,” of the Dave’s Gone By podcast, which aired live facebook, Saturday morning, May 16, 2026.
Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews singer Craig Pomranz and offers a Rabbinical Reflection on Abraham Foxman; Greeley Times; Colorado Limerick of the Damned (Colorado City); StoryTime (Logan Pryce Makes a Mess, pt. 3).
Guests: cabaret’s Craig Pomranz; spiritual leader Rabbi Sol Solomon
00:00:01 DAVE GOES IN w/ Joyce: yard sale, Puns of Anarchy, Rex Reed, Anil Kochhar 00:55:00 GREELEY TIMES 01:19:00 GUEST: Rabbi Sol Solomon interviews Craig Pomranz 02:05:00 STORYTIME: Tales from Maple Ridge – Logan Pryce Makes a Mess, pt. 3 02:34:00 RABBI SOL SOLOMON’S RABBINICAL REFLECTION #207: Abraham Foxman 02:41:30 DAVE GOES FURTHER IN: buffet, trespassing 02:56:00 Friends of the Daverhood 03:04:30 COLORADO LIMERICK OF THE DAMNED: Colorado City, CO 03:07:30 DAVE GOES OUT (Art Paul’s list)
